Battle Of Hudson

For Halloween, the Devils gave the fans both a treat and a trick…the treat of a late-game comeback on a pretty Michael Ryder goal that salvaged an otherwise drab game, and the trick of ending THE CURSE.  Of course I speak of the shootout curse, where the Devils were 0-for their last 18 dating back to March 2013.  Ironically enough they beat the Jets and Ondrej Pavelec in their last shootout win.  Who were they facing last night?  The Jets and Ondrej Pavelec.  Perhaps it was fitting the Devils finally ended their shootout cycle of doom against the opponent they last beat in the skills competition so long ago I forgot what it looked or felt like to actually not lose a shootout.  To a degree I still don’t know, for this time I made an unprecedented decision.

After the final buzzer of OT I walked out of the arena and did not check Twitter or anywhere else for an update.

I figured my friend and fellow section 120 sth (who wasn’t at the game) would text me after it was over either way regardless.  So to a degree I still don’t remember what it’s like not to watch a losing shootout though I did see the replay later on.  Never have done anything like that before.  One former sth in 209 I used to know made a practice of it, since he hated the shootout on principle so I texted the guy kiddingly last night that I was now pulling a him and walking out before the shootout.  Granted I couldn’t entirely avoid knowing what was going on the first two shots when I heard Damien Brunner announced as a shooter then quietness when he missed.  The last thing I heard going out was the cheers when Cory Schneider made a save – in itself a stunning development.  Still I resisted the temptation to go back, unlike the Buffalo road game last year where I also resolved to avoid watching the shootout but after five minutes checked assuming it was over and it wasn’t so I got sucked back in…of course we eventually lost that one too.

True to form, my friend did text me when it was over saying simply, ‘THANK THE HOLY LORD’.  I saw it when I was practically at my car and realized to my disbelief we actually won this time.  I wasn’t even annoyed to miss the most compelling part of the game as it turned out or that they finally won a shootout after I cried uncle, I’m just relieved our neverending nightmare was over.  Doubly so since for 56 minutes this looked like it was going to be yet another drab loss to a horrendous Jets team that continually burns us with its speed.  Coming off the heels of the Devils’ humiliation in Pittsburgh (thankfully I missed most of that game too), a fourth straight loss at home to the Jets of all teams would have been unfathomable.

Admittedly in the early part of the game I was more preoccupied with a big trade in one of my fantasy football leagues, and really the game itself wasn’t doing much to divert my attention.  Didn’t help that there was only a modest gathering of family and friends (actually just over 12000) at the arena.  When I finally did get my attention back on the game I wished I hadn’t, as Marek Zidlicky went for broke on a delayed penalty trying to get possession of the puck, and missing – springing Blake Wheeler for a breakaway.  Wheeler’s easy goal on Schneider got me even more cranky…and less confident we would break the curse tonight, though after hearing our last shootout win had come against the Jets and Pavelec before the game a small part of me wanted to try our luck at the shootout roulette.

We would have to get there first though, and with save after save by Pavelec it looked increasingly less likely we would get even one point out of this game.  Thankfully the good version of Schneider showed up last night, even managing to go an entire game without being beaten shortside for a goal, how about that?!  He needed to show up too, cause most of the game was comedy of mental mistakes and bad passing.  One such pass even got captain Bryce Salvador benched early in the third period when Schnieder was forced to stop Wheeler on another point-blank chance (though coach Pete DeBoer publicly declined to call it a benching, what else do you call it when the captain doesn’t play another shift the rest of the game even after it got tied and into OT?).

Ironically other than rookie cyborg Damon Severson, two of our best players last night were the ugly duckling Swedes, both of whom were former first-rounders that started the season in the scratch box.  Adam Larsson got in just his second game last night and did much better in this game than against the Rangers, even avoiding the Pete guillotine this time and playing over 15 minutes including some shorthanded time.  Fellow Swede Jacob Josefson continued his career resurgence in the last week plus, even getting a promotion above the fourth late in the third period with some terrific all-around play (including 80% on faceoffs, amazingly enough).  Though he only played a hair under ten minutes and didn’t factor in a goal – during the game portion of last night – he did provide a spark and would still make his presence known before the night was over.

In fact, Josefson was on the ice (but didn’t factor in the scoring) when the Devils finally tied the game late in the third period with the help of two slumping players.  Defenseman Jon Merrill – who was not benched or scratched despite a ghastly -5 in Pittsburgh, which led to public sarcasm by Pete about how we don’t make decisions off a stat sheet, would factor in the tying goal, springing Ryder who got free in the offensive zone.  On a delayed penalty Ryder made an unusually spry move deking around Mark Stuart and beating Pavelec while falling down to tie the game.  New Jersey nearly won the game in regulation when Jagr’s sharp wrister was saved by Pavelec through traffic and despite a couple of good chances by both teams, the game eventually dragged into a shootout.  Which I did finally hear both radio and TV calls on, Matt Loughlin dating himself with a ‘our long national nightmare is over’ while Steve Cangialosi made a less gimmicky but still understandably excited call.

Of course we only got one goal in the shootout, so who scored?  Josefson, after apparently both Schneider and Patrik Elias had to prod DeBoer into using the nifty Swede during the skills competition.  Ironically enough Josefson was one of the few to score a goal last year during our cycle of doom.  Perhaps even more surprising than actually scoring a goal was the fact Schneider made all the stops, after looking helpless in his first shootout of the season and on Wheeler’s goal earlier in the game.  When I saw the highlights before I realized why.  On the Wheeler attempt Cory shocked the world by trying a pokecheck, though it wasn’t particularly effective it still did the trick messing up Wheeler’s timing.  On the other two shots, Cory was more aggressive than usual, leading to a blocker save on Andrew Ladd and finally Bryan Little missing the net to ding, doing the witch is dead our curse once and for all.

I haven’t felt like blogging much in recent days, at times this season my blogs will be more of a weekly recap than a daily blow-by-blow though I still want to at least recap the home games I go to.  Unfortunately me and the Devils are both 0-for the season at home after the Devils’ shootout loss (yes, that again) on Chico Resch night last Friday.  Oh well at least I liked the ceremony and Chico of course ran over his allotted five minutes for his speech by about four minutes more.  Probably my mental state would have been helped by watching the telecast as opposed to being at another half-empty arena Friday, since during the second period there was even an extra special treat – hearing several minutes of Chico and Doc Emrick in the booth, together again…of course I did tape the game and was able to watch their repartee later though.

There was insane traffic on route 21 on the way up and back to the arena though, preventing even more people from getting there on time for the Chico ceremony which was unfortunate.  So were the boos for captain Bryce Salvador before the game.  Hate his play and the fact he’s in the lineup all you want, but personally it’s a bit distasteful we would boo Salvador who at least gives max effort (and even fought Antoine Roussel on Friday at a dead point in the game to give the team a spark) and yet never booed Brian Rolston, who to be kind didn’t exactly do enough to earn his money after re-signing as a free agent.  Of course with only about 12000 there for the pregame intros – actual attendance wound up being just under 15000 – a few yahoos could sound like the majority of the crowd.

Granted there wasn’t exactly much to cheer about on Friday though at least early-season scratches Jacob Josefson and Damien Brunner both made an impact with Josefson getting a nice assist on Eric Gelinas’s first period bomb and Brunner himself scoring a semi-contreversial goal in the third period when Patrik Elias hand-passed the puck through the crease and off goalie Kari Lehtonen to Brunner, but fortunately that went unseen.  As apparently did every Dallas Star infraction during the game since the Devils didn’t get a single power play, so maybe that allowed goal was our payback.  It’s a pity there were only two penalties called total during the game since whoever the official was announcing penalties (one of the refs was Wes McCauley but not sure whether it was him or the other guy) was pretty….theatrical and demonstrative when announcing penalties.  Maybe he has an acting job on the side since being a ref isn’t ‘quite’ a year-round job.   Not that I would want to see us on the PK any more than neccesary since our PK’s been positively brutal this year.

The less said about our inevitable shootout loss Friday the better.  Clearly it’s mental at this point and once again it was same crap, different season.  At least on Saturday the Devils managed to win in overtime at Ottawa during an emotional night when the Senators played their first home game since the recent tragedy there, with all three Canadien teams (Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa) taking part in a simultaneous ceremony in the YouTube above.  During the actual game, special teams were once again the story for the Devils as their power play remained hot with two more goals…including Jaromir Jagr’s OT winner that spared the Devils another shootout of doom, though they had to overcome a PK that once again couldn’t kill off a mighty mites power play much less an NHL one.  Alex Chiasson and Bobby Ryan scored both Sens’ goals with the man advantage, with goaltender Cory Schnieder continuing a troubling trend of allowing shortside goals on Chiasson’s opening marker in the second period.  A great individual effort by rookie Damon Severson in the second period – when he broke up a pass by Erik Karlsson and then went down the other end and scored on a bomb – proved to be the only even-strength goal of the game.  For the second straight game Severson got an incredible 25+ minutes of icetime and with his four goals already he’s staking an early claim for the Calder trophy.

However, as was expected by many before the season injuries are already starting to become a factor on an older forward core with two of our 30+ forwards (Jordin Tootoo and Martin Havlat) going on IR and Mike Cammalleri being checked out for a jaw injury suffered in Ottawa.  With Brunner and Josefson already in the lineup for our IR’ed forwards, the Devils called up prospect Reid Boucher in case Cammalleri can’t go tomorrow night in Pittsburgh.  Not much will change on defense, as Adam Larsson will sit out his seventh game out of eight and the regular six will go again, with Cory Schnieder in net for the eighth straight time tomorrow.  Schnieder has made plenty of spectacular saves thus far – especially considering our high shot totals allowed in most games – and you can’t really argue with getting points in six of eight games, but as previously noted it seems like he’s given up a shortside goal every game lately.  That’s going to have to stop asap, especially if we’re going to continue to allow 30+ shots a night and get most of our scoring from the defense as opposed to up front.